The desert rose
by Shadow Dagger
Summary: “Would it make you happy if he died?” she asked. He was careful with what orders he gave her. She was oddly obsessive and if anything made him happy she'd do it. Rating may change for future chapters.(to be rewritten)


Disclaimer: Yu Gi Oh's not mine!  
  
Author's Note: HELLO! I'm back again after killing all my other stories. This is my first attempt at a Yu Gi Oh fic so please be kind and review. I'd appreciate any reviews (as long as they don't flame me about being a crappy YGO writer. It's my first time people!), especially since my highest was probably ten. (sucks doesn't it.) Anyway, this is starting in Yami's time 5000 years ago.If anyone needs clarification, please review and ask! I will clarify!

Scene 1: It's a girl!

A mother was lying exhausted on the hospital bed. She'd given birth to a healthy daughter but her husband was furious. He had demanded a son. The doctor felt great pity on the woman and child.  
  
"Doctor, where is my child?" she asked. He brought the quiet girl to her. The woman cooed and tickled the baby. The baby did not respond the way other children did. Instead of crying out to the strange touches of these foreign people, she returned playful gestures she could manage with her weak limbs.  
  
Bellowing voices screamed down the hall. The husband had come seeking his wife. He was a Millennium Knight. The history of Millennium Knights was long. They were a proud line of men who married women into their family and produce sons. This was the first time ever a daughter had been born. The Millennium Knights followed a strict code and a daughter would shame their family.  
  
"Wench, what have you done? I need a son! I need a strong boy to carry on my blood!" He struck the woman across the face. The baby girl screamed in protest but was unable to do anything. He raised a knife to slice the child's throat so as never to hear it scream again. However, the love of the mother saved the child. She grabbed at her husband begging and pleading with tears and screams for mercy. In his rage he brought his blade to her gut to silence her.  
  
The woman felt the cold steel break the barrier of her body and rip through her flesh. She gasped as she saw what happened, slowly replaying in her mind. She fell to her knees gripping his arms, trying to hold onto her life, but it slipped away.  
  
The knight pushed his wench from his blade. He felt little whim of killing, whether it was a woman or child. He looked at the baby. A girl. How could this have happened? He lifted the bloody blade. "No one will know you died. No one will care."  
  
Crack. Rip. Break.  
  
The man towered over the baby. The baby looked up trying to understand why blood dripped down her face. It didn't seem to bother her, just that it was there stirred her curiosity. The great man fell to his knees and collapsed next to his wife, dying.  
  
His bones were crushed and his muscles useless. What had happened? He watched the edge of the bed and saw the baby kick and cry out in need. He was dying and his heir would take 'the mark'. It would be burned into her neck and stay there until she passed it on. "Demon child," He whispered in his last breathe before his lungs collapsed. 

Scene 2: Years later in the hidden city...  
  
"DEMON!" yelled the man. "Come back here Rena!" The little girl ran. She clutched the purse and dagger to her small frame. Ducking and weaving around the crowd. How stupid did they think she was? They'd kill her if she stopped. She had killed that man.  
  
"RENA!" yelled the voice again. The man was her Skin keeper, a slave trader who was her pimp. He sold her out to men but was returned by paled and haunted creatures from the underworld. They paid to bring her back and never see her again. Today was the first time the man was killed. "RENA!"  
  
She continued to run. Her agile frame made it easy for her to run, jump, duck and hide without being caught. When she was cornered, her crafty escapes shocked the pursuers while she fled.  
  
She ran into the busy streets and dodged carts and people. She ducked under a stall and hid. Her Skin keeper ran by with his useless dogs. They would not be able to find her where she hid. She reeked of the foul waste collected from the camels.  
  
She walked to the alley behind the stall and looked into the puddle of collected rain water of the previous night. She combed out her knotted, dirty and bug infested hair as best she could but it did little to help. She splashed the water over herself, 'cleaning' herself. Her dark green eyes showed her relief. Her dark skin glistened with the dirty water. To her, it was magnificent. It was cool compared to the day she'd had and any relief was welcomed.  
  
She touched the scar on her neck. It had been burned into her since she'd been born. She had killed her parents and as punishment the mark was burned into her. At least that was what she knew from the doctor who raised her. He had died as well, killed by a plague, which only happened to him. She was then given to the Skin keeper and her life was dirt from then on.  
  
She brought out the blade from its cloth. It was the same blade used to kill her mother. The symbol carved into the hilt was the same as the one burned into her neck. She didn't know how they were connected but knew that whoever could tell her would have more answers and she needed to find them.  
  
Loud barking echoed behind her, coming nearer. The Skin keeper's dogs had found her scent. She ran into the main street, knowing the danger she was in both with the dogs and the people. If they found her they'd charge a price for her head to be mounted. She ran to the square. She'd lost track of the dogs and was completely lost in the waves of people. She felt her stomach tighten as someone grabbed her by her hair and dragged her to the ground.  
  
"So you must be the thief everyone's crying about." Tall men towered over her sneering and laughing. "Not even seven and she's the center of attention. Pathetic Skin keeper you must belong to." said the man holding her by her hair.  
  
The Skin keeper came with his dogs. Rena pulled and bit the man holding her, trying to get away from the hungry fangs. "RENA! YOU WILL BE TAUGHT TO OBEY!"  
  
"Hold on old man! I went out of my way to capture this pest. Such a deed does not go unrewarded."  
  
"Then take her and kill her!"  
  
The man looked almost overjoyed. He turned to speak with his master. It was a boy, twelve at most. He was dressed in noble robes but his chest was bare and his cape billowed about his shoulders down to his waist.  
  
"May I master?" Rena could not wait to find out. She drew the murderous blade that killed her mother and drove it into the man's side. The men were shocked and they fell just as easily if they were in her path. She heard the howl of the dogs. They lashed out trying to tear away her limbs. One latched onto her arm. She cried out in pain. She frantically tried to beat and kill the dog. Its white fangs seeped deeply into her flesh.  
  
She felt her rage and fear consuming her. It was like hot, white fire. A fragile stage of anger broke and she screamed in agony. She grabbed the neck of the dog and burned it. The heat of her emotions burned into the dog, killing the beast.  
  
She sagged down to one knee, breathing unevenly. She gripped the dagger as her only defense. She looked through her knotted hair to the men cowering from her.  
  
"DEMON CHILD!" They yelled.  
  
She felt a blow to her head. It was an agonizing pain, as if her mind was being crushed and ground up. She turned and looked wildly around for its source. The noble boy, Kaiba, held a golden scepter before him. Then she saw it. The symbol was carved into the gold. She cried out in pain. Slumping down, she gripped her head and tried to dispel the pain by driving her head into the ground.  
  
Kaiba watched as her mind began to crumble. She possessed some magic but could not control it. The magic automatically protected her from his magic but it was crumbling. She pulled at her hair, trying to protect herself. He glimpsed a burn in her neck. He pulled her head forward. The millennium symbol was burned into her neck.  
  
He ceased her pain. He brought his millennium rod to her neck. Rena felt its magic spread through her. It was like a binding chain that flowed through her body with her blood. "I am your master now. You will come home with me now." He commanded.  
  
"Hold on one moment!" said the Skin keeper. "She belongs to me. You must pay for her."  
  
Kaiba shattered his mind. The old, overweight Skin Keeper fell lifelessly. Rena's eyes widened. She poked the dead man. When he didn't react she snatched his purse. She looked up at Kaiba from her kneeling position. She gave him her dagger, which she'd treasured. He took it and released his grip on her hair.  
  
He walked a small distance. "Come here!" He ordered. Rena looked at him and immediately obeyed. She walked two paces behind Kaiba, hissing at any of his guards if they got too close to HER master. She could not quiet explain it. It could have been his spell or that he'd just saved her but he was her master and no one would get near him.  
  
She paused a moment when she saw that he's walked into the palace gate. "Rena!" was the sharp call of her master. She broke out of her thoughts and immediately fell into her place, at the feet of her master. "Don't ever make me call for you. If I tell you to follow, don't get distracted."  
  
She nodded. She brought up her arm. He looked rather confused. Her arm had long deep gashes. She looked at the dagger she'd given him. She wouldn't move. "Skin Keeper rule number one, do something wrong and you don't forget until scar heals."  
  
Kaiba ran the tip of the blade down from her wrist. A short red trail formed where he'd cut her. She fell back into her pace, two steps behind him and continued walking. He took Rena to see his father.   
  
"Kaiba, why did you bring home a street rat?" demanded the lord of the hidden kingdom.  
  
"She is my servant." He said. "She has a mark on her neck."  
  
"Mark? What mark? Come here girl!" Rena didn't move. "I said come!"  
  
"Rena, go and sit in front of him. He's going to look at the scar on your neck." Kaiba said. Rena obediently marched up the stairs to the lord's seat. She turned around and lifted her mess of hair.  
  
"Not possible! They were all killed seven years ago. And more over, it is a she! They are men!"  
  
"But she survived a fight of dogs, knights and had a protection against my magic."  
  
"Who was your father, girl?"  
  
"I am an orphan. Father killed mother and I killed father. Doctor died and Skin Keeper made me his little purse collector."  
  
"Who was your father?" demanded the lord getting impatient.  
  
"Servant of Osiris, god of death, was my father."  
  
Servants of Osiris were the millennium knights, knights who could never live to be defeated by mortals. People called them demons. They were bound to the first master whom charged them and the only way one discarded them was to seal them in the shadow realm. There they'd remain until someone released them. That person would be their new master.  
  
"Fine."  
  
"Rena, come here!" Kaiba beckoned. She followed him to his chambers. He sat on his bed and ordered his servants to bring water. The buckets of water were brought and he ordered the women to stay and clean Rena up.  
  
She hissed in anger when her skin and hair were rubbed, pulled, scrubbed, soaked, soaped, scratched and so on. It took twelve woman alternating turns to clean off seven years grime. Clothes were brought for her. She put on the soft, silky, white robes. The robes were light and baggy, making it easy for her to move.  
  
"Better." Kaiba said looking at her. He returned her dagger, with a new sheath.  
  
"Thank you master."   
  
Scene 3: 10 years later...  
  
Kaiba groaned darkly. "What's wrong master? Is the Pharaoh upsetting you?" asked Rena. She was gorgeous to anyone who wasn't blind. Her black hair was braided and fell over her shoulder while her midnight blue bangs were constantly a nuisance but she never bothered cutting them. Her dark green eyes looked at her master questioningly. She was overjoyed to please her master.  
  
She was dressed in the attire that every Millennium Knight before had worn but she had adjusted it to her own needs. The light armor covering her upper torso shone like gold and bore the same symbol as Millennium Items. Her pants were made of a light fabric and allowed her to move easily and quietly. From her belt white silk flowed down to her ankles like a cape. Kaiba had given it to her just to remind her she was the shame of her family, the only daughter to have ever been born into the family.  
  
Kaiba threaded his hand through her hair. She was sitting at his feet, her head resting in his lap. After he'd brought her home with him, he'd forced her to train and study. She didn't mind what kind of training she did because he always oversaw it. Though it was in her blood to protect him, she was especially obedient because she loved him more than anyone. He'd saved her from the life on the street and he taught her how to fight and use her magic properly. She owed him everything, her life, her soul and her love.  
  
Kaiba treated her as a pet, stroking her hair and massaging her scalp. The smooth silky strands slipping through his fingers. She'd been the one thing that had not changed over the years. His parents died. His servants failed him but she did everything he asked her to do. He'd planned to use her to get what he wanted most.  
  
"I will destroy the Pharaoh and take his place on the throne where I belong."  
  
"Would it make you happy if he died?" she asked. He was careful with what orders he gave her. She was oddly obsessive and if anything made him happy she'd do it for him.  
  
"It would make me happy if he'd Shadow dual me for his throne and his puzzle." She began to rise but he pushed her back down. "If you want to make me happy, you will do exactly what I tell you tomorrow. You'll come and get me my shadow dual."  
  
"If that's what makes you happy..." she said handing him his scepter, "What shall I do tomorrow?"   
  
Yami watched as his nemesis, Kaiba, returned once again. He had not given up on trying to overthrow him. Yami wanted no more lives lost at his expense but his servants refused to put their king in danger.  
  
Yami watched curiously as a girl stepped in front of Kaiba. 'What? Why would he bring a girl?' Yami thought curiously.  
  
Rena watched as the Pharaoh's knights laughed at her. "A woman is your defense? If she is yours we won't mind killing her. We won't take mercy on you girl." Said one man. He brought his blade down but she'd vanished. Kaiba smirked and raised his eyes over the knight's head where she promptly landed. She kicked his head and snapped his neck leaving him immobilized.  
  
"What? A woman is not capable of fighting!" said another knight. "What are you, witch?"  
  
She looked in his direction and raised her hand. "You can't match me. I never lose." The ground shifted beneath his feet. The ground collapsed beneath Yami's knights and they fell into oblivion.  
  
'Magic?' Yami thought. 'What is she? Knight or sorceress?'  
  
"What do you want Kaiba?" He demanded.  
  
"A dual! The stakes are everything you have; your puzzle, your kingdom, your life!" Kaiba said. "If I don't get my dual, my Millennium Knight will force you into submission."  
  
"She's a Millennium Knight? But they are a line of men with no magical lineage."  
  
"Really? Why don't you ask your knights? They seem to be dying rather quickly."  
  
"Let's see you protect your Pharaoh." She seemed to fly as her blade pierced the armor and rammed into his gut. She kicked his lifeless body from her blade and smirked. "I will not fall to men who think I'm weak because I am a woman."  
  
"So Yami, will you risk the lives of the rest of your servants?" mocked Kaiba. Yami watched as Kaiba's knight easily danced around his knights. She slaughtered them without a whim of guilt or pain. Soon his knights were dead and his servants dying. "My. My. No one left Yami. Looks like you have to duel me."  
  
Rena jumped up the steps in front of him. She drew her bloodstained blade to his throat. Yami stared at her for a moment and sent her flying back into the opposite wall (300 meters away). Rena raised herself out of the smoke panting. Dust and rubble from the dent in the wall hung in her long hair and against her blood caked skin.  
  
"Rena calmed down." Said Kaiba. She obeyed and sat on top of a toppled pillar. She crossed her arms and waited. Yami descended prepared to duel. "Finally..." mumbled Kaiba.  
  
"I do not have time to waste with you. Summon your most powerful monster and we will have a sudden death battle." Rena immediately rose to defend her master.  
  
"Stay where you are, Rena." She frowned but sat as she was told.  
  
Kaiba summoned his Blue Eyes White Dragon while Yami summoned the Dark Magician. 'He won't defeat my master.' thought Rena.  
  
Kaiba issued an attack without a second thought. Yami transferred his own strength to give his dark magician another boost. It destroyed the Blue Eyes and Kaiba watched trying to keep the muscle in his temple from twitching.  
  
"You've come here for the last time!" Yami made to banish him to the Shadow Realm but his blast was deflected. Rena glared back at him when the smoke cleared. Kaiba had vanished.  
  
"I won't let you won't hurt him." More knights arrived and took her to the dungeon. She went without complaint and without a fight. 

Scene 4: Bitch vs. Pack  
  
As Rena was thrown into a cell, Yami and his advisors discussed plans of action. "If she told us where to find Kaiba we would be able to finally stop his never ending challenges," said one of his advisors.  
  
"She's a Millennium Knight. They're bound to one master for eternity even after their master dies. She won't betray him." Yami mumbled.  
  
"Using a means of force, we might be able to drag it out of her."  
  
"If you can, you may be permitted to try but her powers exceed your own. Kaiba must have taught her the arts himself."  
  
"Why not use brute force?"  
  
"I still won't tell you." Her voice echoed off the stone walls of her prison. She was smiling to herself.  
  
"Do not defy us! You are our prisoner."  
  
"Really?" she asked teasing his mind. "I think I did well. I did what I was told. I kept my master safe. So I'm quite pleased."  
  
"Be quiet!" said the advisor.  
  
Yami looked at her quietly. "Do you mean to say you were left here?"  
  
"You're a lot smarter than I gave you credit for. I thought I'd be here for days before you figured that out." She said in a slow rebellious voice. She got up and looked out the small window to the Golden Kingdom.  
  
"How dare you speak to the pharaoh like that? Apologize to the pharaoh this instance!" said the advisor.  
  
"No." She said defiantly. "I don't have to." She sat against the wall staring at Yami. "Does it take this much to drag an answer from a girl probably half your age?" She asked the guards. They ignored her and she looked around her prison. Ancient magic protected it. She began banging and kicking against the wall. "LET ME OUT!" she whined.  
  
"Shut up or we'll come in there and beat you unconscious!" said a guard rudely.  
  
Rena ignored him and continued whacking the wall with her shackles. He quickly lost his temper and opened the gate. He went in and she stopped. "Men are so predictable."  
  
She jumped and flipped onto his back she slid out the open gate door and ran in the opposite direction of Yami and his advisors. "Catch her! Bring her back alive!" yelled the advisors.  
  
Rena ran down the long corridors making turns different turns everywhere she went. She heard the sound of approaching footsteps. She opened a large door and shut it behind her. She blew her hair out of her eyes and breathed in. "So many men just to catch me. I wonder how the Pharaoh can have so much power."  
  
She looked around and saw a giant tablet. "Uh oh." She breathed. The Dark Magician emerged from the tablet. "I'm in trouble." She ran and dodged the magician's attacks. She ran until she faced a dead end. She turned defiantly. She reached into her armor (A/N: They didn't take it away because she's a girl.) and drew out daggers.  
  
The Dark Magician looked at her and then returned to his tablet. Rena raised a brow. "Your magic is no match for the magic of the monsters here." Yami walked calmly towards her. He pinned her against the wall with his magic.  
  
"Stupid Jerk!"  
  
"Name calling is a childish game." He said prying her daggers away. "I am in a much more advantageous position after all."  
  
"Maybe, but you're still a coward. You're a not a pervert though. I'll give you credit for that."  
  
"Why, thank you." He said. "Your master must adore running his hands through your hair." He plucked one of her long strands of black hair.  
  
She tried to bite and kick him for it. "Don't touch me!" she snarled.  
  
Regardless, he enchanted it. It became a chain of magic. He chained it to her wrists and dragged her behind him. She tried very hard to free herself of the chains and shackles. By the time they left that room all the guards had assembled outside ready to get a piece of her. She pulled against the chain desperately.  
  
The guards took the chain and hauled her over. The biggest guard threw her over his shoulder kicking and screaming. "I hate you Yami. I swear when I get the chance I'm going to hit you where it hurts most!"  
  
"You won't come within reach of the Pharaoh." laughed the guards.  
  
"Emotions can hurt more than physical attacks. But you're too stupid to know that!" she yelled trying to kick her captor.  
  
"You may try, but for now you are my prisoner." He said running his fingers through her hair. She pulled away from him snarling like a dog. "The bitch has bite. In that case, Samara would enjoy some entertainment. Bring the dogs out and lock her in the ditch with them."  
  
The knights did as they were told. She screamed and kicked down the long corridors, striking down most of the soldiers but unable to free herself.  
  
She heard the sound of howling and barking. She looked over her shoulder to see where they were headed. A door was shaking on its hinges as ready to come loose. 'Dogs? Hateful dogs!' she thought. She was thrown in the door and it was sealed firmly behind her.  
  
The dogs had not been released but people were assembling to watch the torture of an enemy. 'They call us cruel. Evil bastards.' Rena looked up and saw the pharaoh sitting with a woman perched at his side. Even from this dismal place Rena could tell this woman was the obnoxious future wife of the pharaoh.  
  
Her attention was drawn from the audience when she felt things being pelted at her. She dodged and slashed at the stones and tools being thrown at her. She hissed angrily and snatched on from the air and launching it at the crowd. It pierced the mortal and died with a sickening crack.  
  
"Kill her! Demon wench!" other jeering comments were yelled as the dogs were released. Rena killed at a quick rate but she soon tired and they began latching onto her. She beat the beasts against the wall and each other. It was a brawl to survive and it was in her blood to survive.  
  
She was not supposed to die yet. She had to ensure her master's happiness. That meant destroying the pharaoh. She'd kneel to no man other than her master.  
  
The white-hot anger burning in her chest was released. The beasts were burned alive, their carcasses still fixing their teeth in her flesh. She gasped in exhaust. She'd been told it was a waste to release so much magic but now all the dogs were dead.  
  
The door had also been burned open. She forced herself to walk towards it. The audience soon recovered and began throwing more items at her. Her muscles reached their limit as she approached the door. She collapsed.  
  
"God damn it." She cursed as the flying objects hit her. "I'll never lose to anyone." She forced herself to her knees. She sought for strength and it uncoiled in her as she remembered it the skin keeper. Men had condemned her life to hell. They'd molested her and tried to kill her and tried to take away her chastity. She had every right to kill them all. She forced her magic and gave out another blast of heat. The men in her close vicinity were burned. They cried as their lives were scorched away.  
  
Her muscles contracted in pain. She fell a few feet from the door her body in utter pain. She imagined it was what it felt like to die. She reached into her robes and drew out HER dagger. Its emblem shone in the setting desert sun, the eye glinting. She drew it from the sheath and drew two deep gashes in her legs. The blood flowed from her body and she could do nothing to keep from the darkness. 

Scene 5: At a distance  
  
Yami watched with mild interest at the dogs tearing at her flesh. She fought desperately but was soon overtaken. It surprised him when the bitch had released an enormous amount of energy. He'd been absolutely baffled by the second wave. He watched her unmoving form as the people of his kingdom fled in fright.  
  
"Take her to my chambers and strip her of her armor. Dress her appropriately and chain her in the room until I retire for the night."  
  
The Knights did as they were ordered. Samara stroked his hair affectionately. "My Pharaoh, why do you let her live? If she will not speak, she is of no use to use." She said haughtily at the thought of another woman being in his room.  
  
"Although she is Kaiba's knight, I cannot kill a woman." He said pushing the woman's hands away.  
  
Samara huffed a little but replied respectfully. "You show great mercy my pharaoh." 

Scene 6: At an even FURTHER distance

Kaiba was back at his lair across the desert watching through an orb of magic. "Excellent. I knew he would never hurt a woman. Let alone a woman as beautiful as Rena. She is doing exactly as planned. When Yami is close enough to her, she will return to me in a heartbeat and he will be left heart broken. Then he will easy to overthrow." Kaiba waved the smoke away and laughed. "Excellent Rena, if you can do this you will be the star of your family, no longer a stain on the name of Knights." 

Author's Note: Please RR! Ask if you need clarification and if no one reviews, I'll keep writing just because I feel like it! 


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